Written and edited by Norm Scott:
EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!!
Three pillars of The Resistance – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We link up with bands of resisters. Nothing will change unless WE ALL GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!

Monday, September 22, 2014

Comment from Roseanne McCosh a rank and file MORE and long-time Ed Notes supporter

A caucus that hopes to break free of Unity's control of our union will never get the support it needs from members when distractions such as the Sharpton march or whether or not to wear blue and support NYPD divide us. My colleagues range from left leaning liberals to right wing conservatives with most of us in the middle. We disagree on various political issues of the day but we are pretty much united in our disgust with the DOE and Mulgrew's UFT. That is the only issue that will unite us. ... Roseanne McCosh, PS 8X

Roseanne basically defines the divide in MORE- those who aim for a center/left caucus that appeals to people like Roseanne AND social justice people who won't put MORE in an ideological straight jacket. I am as social justicy as anyone but also a strong school worker advocate and a realist.

Much of what Portelos is about is himself with a lot of bullshit tossed in - his is a self-defined caucus and we know how one person rule ends up -- easy to do at first but when one voice dominates it doesn't attract activists and when it does the big voice in the room feels threatened and pushes them out -- but he is smart enough to define a cogent message and for that reason I joined his new caucus while remaining with MORE and ICE, which is looking for new ways to be active. MORE does not have the "advantage" of one man (75% of teachers are women) rule so it gets real messy - fast. My struggle in MORE and ICE and the UFT - and maybe Solidarity - is for democracy - because that is the only system that truly represents people's interests. Portelos had no patience for that system and working with others and grew frustrated - like I often am - over not getting things done. He can do that now - but at what expense? I'll stick with the mess.

Roseanne had her school in the Bronx mobilized for MORE in the 2013 elections and in the contract battle. Is MORE interested in people like Roseanne and the people she works with? If we don't reach the Roseanne's MORE is not a movement of rank and file but MOLE - Movement of Left Educators - which seems OK with people - apparently there is a determination by part of the left faction in MORE that more and more people are left and that is the fertile ground for MORE to troll in. OK. Try it.

Check the outcomes in terms of members, activists and votes in a UFT election over the next year and a half - and no excuses. The people pushing MORE in this direction must be held accountable for outcomes. I'm in this for 43 years and I know how these movies end. But I'm patient.

There is a counter view in MORE that a narrowly focused message is not the way to go. Portelos didn't have the patience I do to work things like this out - he can come see me in the nursing home when he's 69 years old and we'll chat about it. Portelos has his good points but frankly I saw too much at his hearings and know too much to say I can still give him unquestioned support.

I am going to be very forthright on Ed Notes and report things as I see them even of I have to be critical of MORE, ICE and whoever and whatever.

Note how she is critical of both sides - those who support police and those who marched.

I have not fought the fight as hard as some of you. I certainly have not been targeted and suffered as many of you have at the hands of treacherous administrators. So I humbly offer my opinion based on what the teachers in my school talk about... Teachers want a union that doesn't preoccupy itself with causes that do not directly affect their working conditions. These preoccupations includes marches for social justice and charity runs for breast cancer. There are many worthy causes out there but we feel we are at war and the focus should always be on us. A caucus that hopes to break free of Unity's control of our union will never get the support it needs from members when distractions such as the Sharpton march or whether or not to wear blue and support NYPD divide us. My colleagues range from left leaning liberals to right wing conservatives with most of us in the middle. We disagree on various political issues of the day but we are pretty much united in our disgust with the DOE and Mulgrew's UFT. That is the only issue that will unite us. Anything else put before us results in eye rolling or disinterest. MORE should not concern itself itself with Portelos' actions and the idea of UNITY dancing in the streets. MORE and any other caucus that hopes to gain momentum with the members on the front lines needs to fight the battles that affect those on the front line. Those battles and nothing else. At this point in my career I am readying for retirement. I have no agenda other than to speak the truth as I see it and get the hell out of this system as soon as I turn 55. It would be a sweet send off for me to see some group of union members unite us with an agenda/philosophy that is only about us. We can't save the world until we save ourselves. Perhaps Portelos is an arrogant, hot-head who isn't the best person to attempt this but he's the only one out there trying. But as a fellow arrogant, hot-head, I offer him my sympathy and good wishes. MORE too has my good wishes but Portleos has a point that I deem valid. Roseanne McCosh

3 comments:

I believe my comments were similar in nature, but either were not posted or deleted. It's not a union's place to divide members, although Unity is doing a pretty good job at that. The focus of our union should be our working conditions which are also student conditions. Social Justice to me has more to do with helping the students and their families with access to good medical care, social services, after-school programs, small class sizes, and able to allow teachers to teach at the child's grade level rather than a test. School should be an enjoyable, safe place filled with caring teachers--no matter what color, creed, religion, etc. Those who want to express their political views outside of education issues have that right. But it shouldn't be a union issue. As for Portleos, I didn't even know what was happening until I saw the comment section at NYC Educator. I do know you and others fought for him. And even after that, he would post things on Facebook that made it difficult for those who defended him. I got the impression Randi and Mulgrew are trying to get him to form a new coalition. I doubt many teachers will follow him. I know I won't. But at the same time, I am losing my faith in MORE because I find them growing away from the everyday problems in the classroom to other issues that have nothing to do with fighting Reforms. Yes, there should be more diversity in our schools, but are we taking about Affirmative Action? (I saw this in a MORE email I received.) Or do we want the best and brightest and most creative in the classroom regardless of their background? If MORE is in turmoil, it's from within their rank than those on the frontline who are more concerned with making it through the school day. Maybe we do need a new coalition. But not one spearheaded by Randi or Portleos, but the ones Rose talks about in her comment. She speaks for me and the majority of teachers, and maybe should be leading MORE.

This discussion over Sharpton, police, climate control is frightful. Teachers all over the country are in deep trouble. Why start a new caucus now when we need to band together to protect our profession and ourselves? I know as an outsider I have no right to comment, but I am not that good at keeping my mouth shut.

Nice Post ! the above person is right that teachers all over the country are in deep trouble and why we are starting new caucus just when we have to band them together to protect there and ours profession?

Comments are welcome. Irrelevant and abusive comments will be deleted, as will all commercial links. Comment moderation is on, so if your comment does not appear it is because I have not been at my computer (I do not do cell phone moderating).

UFT Election Vote Comparison: 2004-10

A Personal Historical Perspective

Why Karen Lewis Reads Ed Notes

"A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

What media call "philanthropy" for the public schools are actually seed monies to establish a private "market" in publicly-financed education - an enterprise worth trillions if successfully penetrated by corporate America. Cory Booker, one of the "New Black Leaders" financed by the filthy rich, is key to creating a "nationwide corporate-managed schools network paid for by public funds but run by private managers.

"Ed Reformers" want to cash in on public education and to control its content and outcome, not improve it. Provide great education? Baby boomers had as close as this country has ever gotten to it when we were growing up. The Ed Reform Movement has no interest in seeing such a well-educated, democratically astute population ever again.

History of the UFT Pre-Weingarten Years

This award-winning series of articles by Jack Schierenbeck originally appeared in the New York Teacher in 1996 and 1997.

Naturally, from a certain point of view. But, despite certain biases, Schierenbeck, a great guy, was one of the best NY Teacher reporters so this is worth reading. Jack suffered a debilitating stroke many years ago (I used to get secret donations to ed notes from him through a 3rd source.)

“The schism in the union over radical politics [is] a major reason for stalling the growth of a teacher union for decades.” Revolutionary politics and ideology take center stage, as the original Teachers Union becomes a battlefield, pitting leftist against leftist and splitting the union.

Clarence Taylor's "Reds at the Blackboard" focused on the old Teachers Union which disbanded in 1964 after suffering from anti-left attacks.

Effective Union Organizing

A video series put together by Jason Mann from the British Columbia Federation of Teachers about social media and how to use it for effective union organizing.

The first series was called New Media For Union Activists Roadmap and it's still available on-line at:http://www.newmediabootcamp.ca/welcome/I watched some of them and need to rewatch as they are loaded with information.

The second series started last week and it's called "Online Campaigning for Union Activists"

You Don't Have A Choice - Join the Revolt

Hedges says, There are no excuses left. Either you join the revolt taking place on Wall Street and in the financial districts of other cities across the country or you stand on the wrong side of history.

Ex-Harlem Success Teacher Comments on Eva the Diva

I am a former Harlem Success teacher. Not many people who work/worked for her like her very much. I once made the comment that she is very nice when I first was hired. Two of her closest colleague responded immediately almost in unison, "Eve is not nice!" Over time I realized that there was a lot of political games going on. Another colleague once said to me that he was tired of "being part of a political campaign." Sending out 15,000 applications for only 400 seats in a school is reprehensible. The money that paid for those mass mailings could have paid the yearly salary of another teacher not to mention the heartache of all those parents who applied but did not get a spot. She does good work trying to give disadvantaged students a quality public school education but at a great cost to staff AND the school's educational budget! school budget.

GEM's Julie Cavanagh Debates E4E member on NY1 on LIFO and Seniority

Davis Guggenheim Compared to Riefenstahl

“Waiting for Superman" is the second most intellectually dishonest piece of documentary work I have seen. It is surpassed only by Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will," the pro-Hitler propaganda classic, in that regard. Uses personal narratives of adorable children to create narrative suspense that overrides public policy discussion with pure emotion in unscrupulous attack on teachers and their unions, among others

Timothy TysonProfessor of African American Studies and HistoryDuke University

A Familiar Voice on Unions

"We must close union offices, confiscate their money and put their leaders in prison. We must reduce workers salaries and take away their right to strike"- Adolf Hitler, May 2, 1933

How Teaching Experience Makes a Difference

Even as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Michelle Rhee and others around the nation are arguing for experienced teachers to be laid off regardless of seniority, every single study shows teaching experience matters. In fact, the only two observable factors that have been found consistently to lead to higher student achievement are class size and teacher experience, so that it’s ironic that these same individuals are trying to undermine both.- Leonie Haimson on Parents Across America web site

Outsource our children

Weingarten/Gates Foundation announce drone-driven teacher evaluation

According to a press release issued by the Gates Foundation, the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, these three have entered a ground-breaking partnership to evaluate teachers utilizing the drone technology that has revolutionized warfare in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. A bird-size device floats up to 400 feet above a classroom and instantly beams live video of teachers in action to agents at desks at Teacher Quality Inspection Stations established by the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

When asked if the drones were authorized to drop bombs on teachers who exhibit inadequacy, Chester E. Finn, Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, replied, "Don't be ridiculous. Gates money puts other methods at our disposal."

Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.5-million-member American Federation of Teachers said the powerful union has signed on to the drone project...

Teacher Value-Added Data Dumping by Norm Scott

The Real Reason Behind Push for Standardized Tests: It's All About the Adults

On standardized testing in our schools

A must read article about the standardized test industry.Written by an insider who has worked as a test scorer, the article outlines a multinational industry based on an army of temporary workers paid by the piece at $0.30 to $0.70 per test, translated in the need to grade 40 tests per hour to make a $12 salary. The article goes on to show how the companies gauge the grading "results" based on the need to ensure new contracts to continue profiting off of our youth. The original article is from Monthly Review. Here it is on Schools Matter blog.

From Sharon Higgins

Parallels between America today and Germany in the 1920's and early 30's

"Resentment and obstruction are all the right wing in America have to peddle. Their policies are utterly discredited. Their ideology - even by its own standards - is a sham. They are so bereft of leaders, their de facto leader is a former drug addicted, thrice-divorced radio talk show host. That is literally the best they can muster. But they have built a national franchise inciting the downwardly mobile to blame the government, not the right, for their problems, exactly as Hitler did in the 1920s."

Chicago View of Unity/UFT on Charters

After many meetings and debates, the Chicago delegation succeeded in working with the New York United Federation of Teachers, Local 2 (UFT) to push the AFT to take stronger stands on charter school accountability and school closings — though many delegates from Chicago would have liked the language to have been even stronger.

Generally speaking, the New York delegation represented organizing charters as the best model for handling their role in reshaping unions, despite the fact that according to many reports few charter schools in New York have been organized as is the case in Chicago. This logic is the same touted by the Progressive Caucus of the AFT. The few that have been organized are a part of the UFT local though they have separate contracts negotiated with the help of UFT. The Chicago delegation reflection the mindset that allowing new charters to continue to proliferate while attempting to organize existing charters is an end game in which public schools and the union lose.

Ed Notes Greatest Hits: HSA Rally and Founding of GEM

Angel Gonzalez and I attended that rally and used the footage to promote our conference on Mar. 28, 2009, which is where the concept of a group like GEM emerged. Until then we had basically been a committee of ICE working with the NYCORE high stakes testing group. The actions of Eva and crew helped spawn GEM. Mommie Dearest!!

I have more video somewhere. I was hoping to get Leni Riefenstahl to edit it but she died. We would have called it "Triumph of the Hedge Fund Operators."

Video of Chicago's George Schmidt and CORE Shredding Arne Duncan and the Chicago Corporate Model

Great Post on Teacher Quality at the Morton School

I'm very tired of the myth that schools are bursting at the seams with apathetic, unskilled, surly, child-hating losers who can't get jobs doing anything else. I recently figured that, counting high school and college where one encounters many teachers in the course of a year, I had well over 100 teachers in my lifetime, and I can only say that one or two truly had no place being in a classroom.